I'm not sure what to do. I have a fourteen year old cat with so many things wrong with him. Last year around this time he was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism which I had treated with Iodine 131.

He was better for a few months and then developed indolent diffuse lymphoma in his digestive system (stomach/small intestines). I have been treating him with metronidazole (antibiotics), prednisone (steroids), ursidiol (bile acid) and leukeran (chemo drug).

Then within the last few weeks he started becoming even less active and peeing in random places. I took him to the vet last week to get a blood and urine test. Besides being slightly low on blood cells, he has symptoms of some sort of early acute kidney disease (but not chronic), a little blood in urine etc. Even though the urinalysis and cultures showed no signs of bacteria, my vet started him on a different type of antibiotic to treat kidney infection - zeniquin.

After three days of that, he's even less active (as if that were possible). I've been syringe feeding him for weeks now, he's not eating by himself except for the rare piece of chicken etc. I can get him to pee in the litterbox if I place him in there every few hours, otherwise he starts going in other places. And most recently he's stopped drinking water. His water drinking has been pretty normal or even excessive thanks to the steroids but today he would only look at it. I'm syringe-feeding him Nature's Instinct Limited Ingredient Lamb blended w/ a little water. His digestive system is currently functioning well, besides the not eating part.

I don't know what I'll do if the zeniquin doesn't work. He spends 95% of his time on his perch now. He doesn't even travel the 5 meters to his water glass. He barely moves; he's either extremely tired or depressed or both. He spends a lot of his time staring into nothing which makes me suspect that he's also in pain. I've put him through so much in the last year to try and keep him alive and spent well over 5k and so much time and energy in the process.

Does anyone have any other guesses as to what could be making him be like this? Can anyone give me any hope? Could the antibiotics just be taking a couple of days to start working?

From what you are saying, I would have to suspect he's suffering from Renal Failure - it sounds very familiar to a problem that I had this past winter/spring with a cat I was fostering.

With him urinating outside the litter box and him passing blood, I would suspect that he's in considerable pain when passing urine. This is why the urinating outside the box is common to a cat - it relates pain to the litter box.

I'm surprised at the amount of medications he's on, especially with kidney problems. Pharmaceuticals are generally more difficult for a cat to metabolize than other animals, including humans. This can cause extra work for the kidneys and liver, which could be complicating things.

I would strongly suggest seeking an opinion from another vet as soon as possible - especially one that specializes in cats.

Another thing you were mentioning is that he is not drinking. This could mean that he's dehydrating and will have to be given liquids subquetaneously through the skin via needle - excuse the spelling there.

You need some speedy medical advice. As much as I hate to mention it, and it's the last thing that anyone wants to consider, but euthanasia may be the route you might have to go.

I'm not a vet, but from my experience I'd be trying to find someone who is quite knowledgeable on feline medicine and preferably a working knowledge of alternative medicines as well. I've had very good luck with alternative meds in this situation.

In your area, there are several vets that practise both holistic and alopathic medicines. This will give you the best of both worlds.

I wish you the best of luck and I have enclosed a web site for you to look at.